A RUNDOWN main road is to get a £600,000 makeover as part of a supermarket deal.

Tesco has agreed to hand over the cash to the city council to help regenerate Park Road, in Dingle, where its newest store opens next month.

Shops will get new signs, shutters and lights and are also being offered up to £2,500 for further improvements – as long as they make their own cash contribution.

Nine patches of wasteland will also be improved to make Park Road an attractive gateway into the city centre.

The council is also aiming to promote Park Road as a shopping destination in its own right to avoid the area becoming known as a “Tesco Town”.

The new store is due to open on May 16 and was broadly welcomed as a major investment in an area which has seen little influx of cash in recent times, although some traders fear the competition will damage existing stores.

Jackie Mogo, who runs Aigburth Glass And Tile and Mogo’s Cafe, is secretary of the Park Road traders association.

She said: “The Tesco store came as a shock to many. But I think it will benefit us at Aigburth Glass and Tile and at Mogo’s.

“The store will bring a lot more people into the area. New shop shutters and lighting will make the area look nice and is all for the good.”

Joe Kenny, of nearby JK Barbers, added: “I am very keen on the new Tesco.

“It will bring lots of new customers in to the area. It has also created jobs.”

Riverside councillor and cabinet member of neighbourhoods Steve Munby said: “It is part of major environmental improvements alongside 100 jobs for long-term unemployed people.”

More than 500 jobs are being created by the supermarket in what is the largest private investment in the area since the riots of 1981.